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Posted at 9:45 AM EST.

1:10 PM EST. Forget Trevor Bauer (LHP) for a sec. We all know he’s having a tremendous year and that he pitches for a tremendously dangerous team but we’ll put all of that to the side here. Although there is a chance that we’re too late to this party, we cannot refuse the hottest team in the majors at this price with its best pitcher going.

A 9-4 win against the Indians on Tuesday made it 11 straight for the Buccos and 13 wins in their past 14 games. After beating up perennial Cy Young contender Corey Kluber on Monday, Pittsburgh made quick work of Cleveland rookie Shane Bieber, with Starling Marte giving his team the lead just 11 pitches into the game. The floodgates opened from there. The second inning brought a Corey Dickerson two-run triple, an RBI single by Marte, and a two-run blast by Gregory Polanco to give the Pirates a 7-1 lead. They never looked back. During this 14-game span, the Pirates have outscored their opponents by 51 runs, and four of the five teams those wins have come against are contenders — Philadelphia, Washington, Milwaukee, and the aforementioned Indians (plus the Reds). They’re now only six games behind the Cubs in the NL Central and three back in the crowded NL Wild Card race. The team that traded away Gerrit Cole and Andrew McCutchen during the offseason are seeing beach balls and can’t wait to get to to the park today.

Jameson Taillon (RHP) has battled through numerous health issues in his young career, but he entered 2018 healthy and possessing significant upside. Through 111 IP, he has a 3.80 ERA and 1.22 WHIP and he’s just getting better. The uptick in Taillon’s strikeout rate is the first thing to note here and is fully supported by his 13% swing and miss rate. He has restored his prior groundball tilt to a very comfortable 50%. The reduction in free passes (just 31 in 111 IP) is another positive sign and it comes with first-pitch strike and ball% backing. His 32% ball% even suggests a little more control upside. Taillon has also stepped up his game against right-handed batters, limiting them to a measly .639 OPS in 201 PA so far in 2018. It’s worth noting that Taillon began throwing a new slider in his May 22 start against the Reds and has ramped up its usage since then, utilizing it 27% of the time with strong results (15% swing and miss rate, 54% grounders and a .203/.242/.356 slash line). As he continues to tinker with his pitch mix, he’s only going to improve and we’ll gladly get behind him here at this beautiful price.9), which is saying a lot because he was mowing guys down left and right in 2017. Since his return from the DL, Ray has flamed 24 batters in 20 frames. As long as he's knocking guys out at such a high clip, Ray will be an appealing play when the price is right like it is today.

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